


I Was Hoping You'd Join Me

by Reed_Zone_Alert (Eliza_Reed)



Series: Be Brave [1]
Category: Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Killing, Killing Bandits, Nil is bored, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-06
Updated: 2020-01-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:36:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22144975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eliza_Reed/pseuds/Reed_Zone_Alert
Summary: Aloy shrugged. "It's not really worth hunting them anymore, except when I actually need the parts. And I'm already travelling... not light.""Well, if you don't feel like hunting machines, then would you mind joining me in cleansing of the southwestern part of the forest?""Let me guess. More bandits."Nil nodded. "A new camp. It seems that these heathens have gotten ahold of some technology from the Old World," he explained, "and now believe that they will be invincible to us. The idea of fighting something new, in addition to the spilling of the blood of these scum... as you can imagine, it allures me. I was hoping you'd join me. Partner."
Relationships: Aloy/Nil (Horizon: Zero Dawn)
Series: Be Brave [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1593934
Comments: 6
Kudos: 33





	I Was Hoping You'd Join Me

**Author's Note:**

> Since my stuff for Horizon Zero Dawn never garnered much attention on Quotev, I figured I'd give it a go here. Originally this was meant to be part of a larger piece, but it works just as well as a oneshot.

Aloy silently raised her bow and drew her arrow back on the string, the only sounds being the slight creak of the bow's limbs and the rustling of trees in the breeze. The machine, a Watcher, raised its head started to move. Aloy's gaze followed its movements. She pressed her hand to her Focus, allowing the colourful display of holography to guide her. The ginger-redhead huntress slowly moved through the grass, not making so much as a single sound. Her amber eyes followed the Watcher as it stepped towards the grass, shaking its head irritably as a few leaves landed on it. 

Aloy raised her bow again and drew the string back, the arrow notched once more, ready to be loosed. The Watcher turned its head and looked directly at her. It couldn't see her through the thick grass. She looked right back at the Watcher, staring into its luminous eye as it searched. She lowered her bow. There wasn't much point in hunting the machines anymore, she knew. They were almost docile now, as long as they weren't provoked. And somehow... it was almost cruel to hunt them now. After seeing what the machines truly were capable of, when they were corrupted... it wasn't fair to hunt them anymore. The machines were no longer a threat.

The Watcher turned its head away and stomped off into the brush, continuing its usual patrol. Aloy strapped her bow back around her shoulders and resheathed her arrow. She didn't really want to hunt anything now. As she slipped out of the shrubbery, a voice spoke up softly, "I'm surprised you didn't take the shot."

Aloy whipped her head around, already unsheathing her lance. She lowered it when she saw who it was. "Nil. Of course... Are you stalking me now?"

"Perhaps," Nil admitted, peaking his head further out of the shrubbery. "I find you quite interesting to watch. I often wonder if that's how I look when I'm absorbed in the hunt. Well, minus letting my prey go free."

Aloy shrugged. "It's not really worth hunting them anymore, except when I actually need the parts. And I'm already travelling... not light."

"Well, if you don't feel like hunting machines, then would you mind joining me in cleansing of the southwestern part of the forest?"

"Let me guess. More bandits."

Nil nodded. "A new camp. It seems that these heathens have gotten ahold of some technology from the Old World," he explained, "and now believe that they will be invincible to us. The idea of fighting something new, in addition to the spilling of the blood of these scum... as you can imagine, it allures me. I was hoping you'd join me. Partner."

"I could use something to do," Aloy told him. "Avad's not expecting me back in Meridian until sunset. I've got plenty of time to spare."

Nil offered Aloy one of his crazy grins. "The hunt is on, then. Follow me." He turned and slipped silently into the brush. Aloy followed behind, removing her bow from its usual place on her back. More likely than not, Nil would want to go charging in, arrows blazing. Aloy would have preferred to shoot from afar, picking off the bandits one by one, but she didn't necessarily mind being in the heat of the battle either. 

She was used to it.

Nil came to a stop approximately twenty minutes later and motioned for Aloy to halt as well. She stopped and instinctively activated her Focus. The environment lit up in shades of purple and orange, indicating that the bandits were just beyond the wall ahead. If the haphazard mess of tall branches could even be called a wall.

"Now, which of us should go in first?" Nil asked looking towards Aloy.

"Maybe I should," she whispered in reply. "I can disable their alarm and then when I give the signal, we can take them all by surprise. Don't give them any time to fight back."

Nil nodded. "Silent and swift. I like it." 

Aloy shrugged. "See you in a bit."

"And the same to you." 

With that said, Aloy slipped out of the tall grass, already nocking a pair of arrows to her bowstring. The huntress stalked along the outer wall, her eyes scanning carefully for a place to climb. She spotted an archer lookout and quickly scrambled into some grass. Aloy waited until the archer's back was turned. Then she raised her bow, pulled the string back, and released her arrows. 

They both hit their mark. The archer plunged over the side of the lookout (thankfully outside the camp, so no one saw the body) and landed with a thump in the grass. Aloy stood up and sprinted towards the lookout. With a powerful spring through the air, she managed to catch the edge of the platform. Splintery wood cut into her skin, drawing blood, but she didn't notice. She hauled herself up over the side and immediately started staking out the situation. 

The alarm wasn't in this section, and there were bandits patrolling the path below, all armed with heavy metal axes. All except for one walking on a rocky path up high above the ground, who was lugging around with her a weapon that was about the size of a Disc Launcher. That was where the resemblance ended. The weapon was mostly a silver colour and was short and almost stubby in shape. The top was fat and round, possibly designed that way so as to hold as much ammo as possible. The front ended in a point, with a short little nozzle poking out. Luminous blue lines trailed down the sides of the weapon in an intricate way, as though its maker intended to add their own personal touch. Perhaps that was the intention. In any case, it was most certainly deadly. That much Aloy knew.

Aloy waited until she could get one of the axed warriors alone, then put in arrow in his back. She continued to pick them off one by one, quickly and quietly littering the ground with their bodies. When she was finished, Aloy looked back up at the bandit with the strange weapon. The bandit was completely oblivious to the fact that her comrades down below were dead. 

Aloy noted that the bandit was all alone. She took aim and shot the bandit, the arrow burying itself in the neck. The bandit slumped to the ground. Aloy scrambled down the side of the lookout and started searching for the alarm. It was off behind a wall to her left, being guarded by a pair of oblivious bandits. She took them down without so much as a single sound and proceeded to disable the alarm.

Aloy, when she was finished, crouched in the grass and silently debated on a way to signal Nil without altering the bandits. Luckily, she didn't have to, because the next thing she knew Nil was crouching next to her, grinning. "That was impressive. Sometimes I wonder how I ever did this without you."

Aloy looked over at him, slightly amused. Of course, he would watch her. It was both flattering and creepy at the same time. Mostly creepy. "Shall we?" she whispered.

Nil gave her another one of his crazy smiles. "Of course." And with that, they burst out of hiding. Aloy's first arrow found its way to a bandit's chest.


End file.
